Great job; very responsive, and reasonably priced. would definitely recommend. thank you for your service. My new go to Guy.
Great Canadian Handymen LTD thanks you for your business and appreciates your fantastic review!
Interlock Brick Driveway Widening
I met with Lou'ay from Burl-Oak Landscaping for a small interlock job I needed done at my new home. Based on the stellar reviews here on Home Stars of this company, I met with Lou'ay for a quote and to discuss the job. Their price was similar to other quotes I had received, and had a good feeling about Burl-Oak, so we contracted with them. This was back in May for a job that wouldn't be started until early July. There would be a few months in between booking and doing the work, so there were a few conversations with them during this time. Now, 3 months after the completion of the work, I am not totally satisfied. Things did not go exactly as I had hoped. I had asked that Lou'ay be onsite during the work, and asked that this be added to the contract, and I was assured that he would, so writing it in wasn't necessary. He had also suggested that we meet him at a nursery near by our home to decide on the Bricks, as it was better to see them in person as opposed to the catalogue. That never happened. There was also a price discrepancy between what he quoted me via text before meeting to write it up, and what he wrote in on the agreement. He had stated that the chosen brick was the same as others we considered, but wrote in the contract that it was more. At the end, he did honour the price as I had proof of the original price. It felt like I was always chasing them for updates and to get information. Granted, they are busy, but I do not feel that I got their best on this occasion. During the install when he did show up, I overheard him telling his worker, that he was doing a :"terrible job" and proceeded to fix it himself. He did not send us his best skilled labour, only inexperienced part timers, with the exception of one gentlemen. At to that, the brick is not the colour we chose; it is faded and dull, and only shows its colour when wet. Not their fault, as they did not manufacture it, but still adds to the level of let down. And now, 3 months later, I have already had to re sand some of the joints, where the sand/cement compound is already coming out, leaving large gaps along the driveway. When I brought this to their attention, I was told, that he did not manufacture the compound, so what are they using an inferior product for? With a two or three year warranty, I am still not really sure, what it will cover. If I am already having to re sand 3 months in, I am fearful for the future, and what problems might arise, worse yet, will they be covered? The work was a little sloppy as well, with compound still stuck on the driveway where they overfilled. I don't think that we saw their best, and I am not sure that I would recommend them.
Hello Mr. Burke. I am sorry you feel let down about your project. When I had originally gave you the quote we quoted you on a particular brick and told you the one you chose was comparable. It was 10 cents more expensive so that is where the difference came from. I made that clear to you when I wrote the contract. But didn't argue when you asked me to change it because I felt your satisfaction was in our best interest. You asked me to be on site and I understand why you would want something like that. But I also I formed you I run two crews, one for excavation and back filling ( un skilled labour) and one for laying and brick work (skilled labour). I assumed you would understand that I supervise the skilled labourers and not the labourers tasked with digging. I was on site for the entire time of the brick laying, and even laid the majority of the brick . I do not recall having a conversation regarding part timers (we have no part timers) or terrible workers that I sent to your home. That seems both Counter productive and silly. I have followed up with you several times to see if everything is to your satisfaction and you have never mentioned anything about the poly sand curing on the driveway. I will certainly come out and fix it but find this review a bit unfair as you did not give us any chance to rectify the problems inherit in our work. As for the sand it deteriorates naturally and we informed you it does so over the next 2 years and you will have to replenish it from now until then. We even left you a half bag of sand because we know that is the course it will take. Again I find this aspect of your review to be unfair specifically when we informed you about this and is even written on the back of our quotes about what to epxect from polymeric sand. Going into the future I will be more vociferous with the process from start to finish. We have certainly learned a lot from this experience and apologies again for your bad experience with us. We will continue to serve you over the next three years to ensure the structural integrity of the driveway stands the test of time.
